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Ugandan Arts and Culture with Andrew Mayiga KaggwaWed, 07 Nov 2018 14:14:14 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.25Why Uganda’s A-listers needed to be at Busarahttp://tsupug.com/why-ugandas-a-listers-needed-to-be-at-busara/
http://tsupug.com/why-ugandas-a-listers-needed-to-be-at-busara/#commentsFri, 17 Feb 2017 15:59:20 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=798The Sauti za Busara international music festival happened over the weekend at the Old Fort, Zanzibar. It is a great time for music lovers to catch up with inspiring African music, as well as get introduced to new sounds. Better still, it is a chance for different African acts to connect; for instance, many Tanzanian …

]]>The Sauti za Busara international music festival happened over the weekend at the Old Fort, Zanzibar.

It is a great time for music lovers to catch up with inspiring African music, as well as get introduced to new sounds. Better still, it is a chance for different African acts to connect; for instance, many Tanzanian artistes come to Busara to create bridges with the African industry whose growth is tremendous.

In Uganda, however, even when festivals like Busara or, locally, Bayimba, are readily available and affordable, they are dos they hardly consider, unless they have been selected to perform.

But imagine what Bebe Cool would learn from Grammy-nominated Ghanaian reggae star Rocky Dawuni or the kind of ideas Jose Chameleone would exchange with Loryzine band from Reunion island.

Like members of Kenyan outfits Serabi and H_Art the Band concur, the festival is a challenge as much as it is an opportunity; for instance, when the latter first stepped on stage, they were new to many in the audience, but left with adoring fans.

We have artistes that have in the past reasoned they do not need East African fans when they have the Ugandan audience, and you can’t blame them; but they need the Busara exposure if they are to improve their performance quality even for just the home fans.

Busara is not for pretenders; it attracts some of the best acts on the continent. For this year’s edition, organisers and artistes aimed to create an experience the audience could go home with, but unfortunately there were no Ugandan acts to study and learn how this is achieved.

At Sauti za Busara, artistes played out of the proverbial boxes; they did mash ups of instrumentation to change their song genres and make them more danceable for an already-charged audience. H_Art the Band, for instance, had some of their songs played in a fusion of reggae and Afropop and even got away with the long spoken word verses.

Uganda’s artistes would have learnt from Sauti Za Busara that their art is a job and each performance matters; they would have understood that people don’t come to see what they have listened to on CDs but to see what else you can do with your sound. Above all, they would have learnt that a good performance does not necessarily have to go on for ages.

]]>http://tsupug.com/why-ugandas-a-listers-needed-to-be-at-busara/feed/0Why Michael Kiwanuka is not famous in Ugandahttp://tsupug.com/why-michael-kiwanuka-is-not-famous-in-uganda/
http://tsupug.com/why-michael-kiwanuka-is-not-famous-in-uganda/#commentsThu, 22 Sep 2016 15:33:32 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=670Four years ago Ugandan media were excited by a one Michael Kiwanuka, being among the many nominated for the famous BBC Sound of, 2012. He won and went on to release his debut album, Home Again that year. Soon after, it was reported that American superstar Kanye West wanted Kiwanuka to feature on his Yeezus …

]]>Four years ago Ugandan media were excited by a one Michael Kiwanuka, being among the many nominated for the famous BBC Sound of, 2012.

He won and went on to release his debut album, Home Again that year. Soon after, it was reported that American superstar Kanye West wanted Kiwanuka to feature on his Yeezus album. Kiwanuka flew to Hawaii, where the rapper was doing much of the recording from.

The Guardian, UK, quotes Kiwanuka as saying he was shocked that Kanye and his team were blown away by his unique voice that has captured hearts in Britain, where he is based. His stint on Yeezus, however, did not materialise after the artiste abruptly abandoned the set in a bad case of self-doubt. Kiwanuka is huge in the UK and internationally, which begs the question why he has hardly caused a ripple in his ‘home country’ Uganda.

Mira Nair’s Disney blockbuster Queen Of Katwe starring Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo may introduce many to this ‘son of the soil’, seeing as his music is part of the movie soundtrack.

In fact, after his BBC win in 2012, his triumph in Uganda was done; although Ugandans are good at picking up complex genres in the name of fitting in, Kiwanuka’s neo soul is not one of the things they have picked up.

Kiwanuka on one of his various performances

Home Again presented Kiwanuka’s image as an artiste less focused on the retro pop and soul vibe that saturates the music scene. His lyrics, writing style and voice are way older than his 29 years, and he has been compared to Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, Randy Newman, Terry Callier, and Otis Redding.

Early this year, Uganda was again on Kiwanuka’s heels thanks to a tweet by Adele about his then upcoming album, Love & Hate; but again, that was it. You will not hear Kiwanuka’s internationally trending album on Ugandan airwaves, despite having worked with Adele before, and topping UK charts.

Some argue Ugandans don’t understand Kiwanuka’s music because he is British, but then the same Ugandans have celebrated artistes such as David Bowie, U2 and of recent Adele, whose music is arguably as far-flung from what the average Ugandan ear comfortably laps up.

On Black Man In A White World, Kiwanuka recently told The Guardian it was inspired by the confusion he faced growing up. His Ugandan parents wanting him to fit in, had not taught him Luganda.

“People would come around, like my mum’s sisters and cousins, and they’d be speaking Ugandan [sic], and I’d be like, ‘I don’t get it!’ I used to sit there playing computer while they had adult conversations they wanted to protect us from. That used to piss me off,” he told The Guardian.

This confusion was the genesis of his highly-political Black Man In A White World. Kiwanuka, with his trademark Afro, has been described as a black soul singer, yet black people were not interested in his music.

IS IT TRIBALISM?

“The fact that no black people were coming to my gigs made me realise we’re more segregated than we think. Even in the kinds of music we listen to,” he told the Irish Examiner.

On the few occasions he and the family have been to Uganda for visits, he has been referred to as a British tourist. He possibly felt that way too. Collin Hinamundi, an arts blogger, notes that Ugandans can consume things that are sold to them and pushed down their throats; “When it comes to Kiwanuka, it’s like many of us just bump into his work”.

Kiwanuka’s music sounds like a refined form of Maurice Kirya’s ‘Mwoyo’ genre. So, anyone who love Kirya, loves Kiwanuka; they just don’t know it yet. Nathan Magola, a copywriter, probably sums it best; he notes that the artiste is neither white English nor black English; and he is not completely Ugandan, either.

Many cite Germany-based Lou Bega (Mambo No5), who, like Kiwanuka, did not necessarily acknowledge his Ugandanness, but still got the country excited because of what he was offering. “See Lou Bega had even changed his name from Lubega, but we kind of bought into his art, because it was funk and made us dance, something Kiwanuka doesn’t,” one person noted online.

But another school of thought argues that Ugandans are mere pretenders.

“If he was the kind of celebrity that is always cited, quoted by Entertainment Now, trust me all Ugandans would be playing catch-up to his old music now,” Hannah Babirye, a music lover, noted.

Babirye argues that by keeping his Kiwanuka name, he has already recognized himself as Ugandan. Very little is known about Kiwanuka’s family apart from the fact that his parents fled Uganda during Idi Amin’s regime.

According to The Telegraph, one of them was an electronic engineer while the other was a cleaner. Whether the two were related to Uganda’s Amin-era tragic Prime Minister Benedicto Kiwanuka is not known, as the artiste remains fiercely secretive about his personal life.

]]>http://tsupug.com/why-michael-kiwanuka-is-not-famous-in-uganda/feed/0Sheebah, Nwagi benefit from Tubonga Nawe dramahttp://tsupug.com/sheebah-nwagi-benefit-from-tubonga-nawe-drama/
http://tsupug.com/sheebah-nwagi-benefit-from-tubonga-nawe-drama/#commentsThu, 14 Apr 2016 12:59:00 +0000In October 2015, an all-star cast of artistes Bebe Cool, Chameleone, Radio and Weasel and Rema among others came together and recorded a song endorsing the NRM candidate and current president Yoweri Museveni as the best choice for the 2016 elections.Of course the public would react, calling them money minded, greedy and the last coming …

In October 2015, an all-star cast of artistes Bebe Cool, Chameleone, Radio and Weasel and Rema among others came together and recorded a song endorsing the NRM candidate and current president Yoweri Museveni as the best choice for the 2016 elections.Of course the public would react, calling them money minded, greedy and the last coming with a resolution that they were going to boycott the artistes.Much as the idea to boycott the artistes was scoffed at, those involved on the project, now popularly known by different names like Special Twelve or the Yellow Twelve, have not had it easy for the past few months.For instance, even when he had all reasons to give, it’s openly thought that Bebe Cool had his East African Carnival scrapped this Easter season because he had predicted doom. But it’s not just him, his collegues on the Tubonga Nawe anthem like Radio and Weasel or Haruna Mubiru have had to endure concert flops in the diaspora. Bebe has still been a subject of social media attacks and at the beginning of this month, things went from his wall and tagging to reality when fans hurled insults at him and his Gagamel team when they showed up for the Uganda Cranes and Burkina Faso game at Nambole.But amidst the tension, some artistes are actually making a killing – With many of the Tubonga Nawe crew in hibernation; it has given group artistes a chance to be the playing mouse now that the cats are into hiding.Winnie Nwagi has been highly looked as that one artiste that has benefited from Iryn Namubiru’s scarcity. During the tension that has seen people call Namubiru and Juliana Kanyomozi names for praising the incumbent, Nwagi has managed to slowly encroach on their market with three remarkable songs, Kibulamu, Science alongside King Saha and the runaway hit Musawo.

Besides winning a couple of awards at the beginning of the year, the songstress has curtain raised on a number of shows and has enjoyed quite a number of appearances on media.From the same camp like Nwagi, Irene Ntale is having a good run too, just over the weekend, she got the audience at the Friday Night Lights Basketball tourney dancing and eating out of her palms which was a contrast of Mun*G, whose shine was stolen a little reveler two weeks back. But it is Sheebah Karungi that must be having the time of her life, in a period of three months, the crazy girl has managed to get more than four songs trending.She kicked off the year with Ndiwanjawulo, Wantama followed them up with Nsekula alongside Fefe Busi and last week she released her long awaited single and video Nkwatako which has received lots of rave reviews even when it was released in the same week like Bebe Cool’s African Girl.Amidst the boycott other artistes have managed to clean their social media image which has seen them improve in the number of followers, for instance, the survey done by TechJaja.com, an IT website, Bobi Wine currently has one of the fast growing celebrity pages and by February, when their research was published, his numbers had shot up by 1167, Ntale though also was performing even way better with 1578 likes.One Arnold Zziwa noted that before the whole political drama, he cared less about what Bobi Wine posted but now, he follows and even shares his posts; “You would realise that even his space in the news is changing, these days he makes it to page two in dailies,” he says.Since he came out to release songs like Situka, Bobi Wine’s fame has surged, he held a sold out Easter Monday show at Busabala and he’s in plans to dare Nambole stadium for his annual show. He has been interviewed by BBC, CCTV and has also been on the cover of the Independent Magazine alongside heading the safe water campaign for children in Karamoja that culminated into the Viva Con Agua We Love YoUganda Festival, a campaign that Bebe Cool was a face of previously.Some have though dedicated Bobi Wine’s good performance to a fact that he has of recent hired the services of Ann Whitehead, a communication specialist to improve his image both online and in the traditional media.Of course with many of the Tubonga Nawe artistes not releasing music, they have given Ugandans a chance to move on without them, and much of this is visible on local music sites where the likes of Nwagi, Sheebah and Maro dominate their charts; on www.howwe.biz, the most popular audio plays are from Nwagi, Sheebah, Pallaso and yes, Bad Black among others.HiPipo’s chart leaders are not that different besides a fact that the songs are, for example Sheebah appears in the top ten with Nsekula as opposed to Nkwatako with other artistes being Navio for his Ganda influenced Njogereza, Bobi Wine for Dembe.However, even when the cards are still against them, many seem to be dusting off, for instance Chameleone has since released his single Double Trouble and much as it is struggling at the moment, it is thought it will pick up, Namubiru has redeemed herself with two releases in two weeks, one being a collaboration with Maro, Bebe Cool’s African Girl video premiered on MTV Base last week and Rema alongside Aziz Azion have too released their long awaited Oli Wakabi.Will these songs work even with an impending swearing in?As one artiste puts it, it will all come down to what Bebe Cool posts at that time.

]]>http://tsupug.com/sheebah-nwagi-benefit-from-tubonga-nawe-drama/feed/0Why East Africa was shut in the cold at MTV Africa awardshttp://tsupug.com/why-east-africa-was-shut-in-the-cold-at-mtv-africa-awards/
http://tsupug.com/why-east-africa-was-shut-in-the-cold-at-mtv-africa-awards/#commentsTue, 17 Jun 2014 06:36:00 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=146The highly-anticipated MTV Africa Music Video Awards (MAMAs) were held last week in Durban, South Africa. As you can imagine, even when they call themselves East Africa’s biggest, both Bebe Cool and Chameleone were nowhere near the nomination list. In fact, the only Ugandans nominated were Radio and Weasel for appearing on Kenyan songbird Amani’s …

]]>The highly-anticipated MTV Africa Music Video Awards (MAMAs) were held last week in Durban, South Africa. As you can imagine, even when they call themselves East Africa’s biggest, both Bebe Cool and Chameleone were nowhere near the nomination list. In fact, the only Ugandans nominated were Radio and Weasel for appearing on Kenyan songbird Amani’s Kiboko Changu, which was vying for the Best Collaboration gong. The others were Nigerians and South Africans. But many still held a lot of hope in the single nomination, expecting to pull off a Mathew Nabwiso at the film awards two years ago.This too was crashed when the best collaboration award too went crawling back to the South.Many have gone viral attacking the show for being Nigerian and South Africa alligned; “If they don’t want to recognise us, i see no need in nominating East Africans,” ranted one of the fans.Could they be right? or utterly wrong?MTV Base Africa, since its inception in 2005 has been a play ground of the West and the South, not because they did the best videos, NO, but because they call the wallet shots.Nigeria single handed has more adverts on MTV Base than all the East African countries combined. And, like all media houses, MTV can’t be any different, they have to survive and survival is from adverts.Its because of this that such ventures are created but end up becoming kick backs for the advertisers.Many things can explain why the entire Eastern block walked away empty handed at last week’s award show, like the stupid voting system that allows any Tom, Dick and Harry to suggest who Africa’s best female artiste is – its no rocket science that Nigeria is one of Africa’s most populated countries, if not the most. With such numbers, they own more cell phone units than any other African country, whether you want or not, you can’t compete with Nigeria on a voting conducted on cell phones.the no limit voting where one can vote as many times as they want, not even our corrupt governments do that! And yes, choosing to put more emphasis on the music videos rather than the sound.I felt very disappointed seeing Khloe of the Kardashian clan watching Tiwa Savage, Don Jazzy and the other performers try to be American, this was a total mockery of our selves proving all the sentiments they have about Africans not believing in what belongs to them. How can we lose it before a low life like a Kardashian?????Did we even have to go ship the award show host from America?This guy has been out of work like for ten years? Then he too gets time to come and play around with African names! like seriously?Anyway back to the theme, MTV has belittled African music by promoting the visual over the sound, the biggest problem is that the videos they are fronting have nothing Kenyan, Ugandan, Nigerian or South African about them.Eighty percent of them are simply full of youth disgruntled with the fact that they are Africans and thus want to migrate to another place – total wannabes.The awards went for the video which of course many of the East Africans don’t have, they went for the instant sing along hits like Eminado, Aye, Sklewu…which East Africa still doesn’t have.These chaps ultimately forgot the good sounds and message in songs like Daddy Owen’s Mbona and Sarabi band’s Sio Lazima or Maurice Kirya’s Blue Dress song. Now these songs are timeless and people will be jamming to them for ages than the later. But MTV doesn’t want that, they want something close to a 50 Cent drug video.How on earth did they even select who was to be nominated in the best live performer category?

]]>http://tsupug.com/why-east-africa-was-shut-in-the-cold-at-mtv-africa-awards/feed/0Who is to blame for the Jamaican, Nigerian music invasion into Uganda?http://tsupug.com/who-is-to-blame-for-the-jamaican-nigerian-music-invasion-into-uganda/
http://tsupug.com/who-is-to-blame-for-the-jamaican-nigerian-music-invasion-into-uganda/#commentsWed, 09 Apr 2014 20:46:00 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=160When Bebe Cool started a facebook rant about DJs not playing enough local music, I wanted to give him a benefit of a doubt so I started by going through my favorite channels, later I picked the phone and called Touch Fm, it’s a Rock stations that plays more pop and rap music, I request …

When Bebe Cool started a facebook rant about DJs not playing enough local music, I wanted to give him a benefit of a doubt so I started by going through my favorite channels, later I picked the phone and called Touch Fm, it’s a Rock stations that plays more pop and rap music, I request for Radio and Weasel’s BET and Channel O nominated Can’t let you go, the presenter tells me she can’t play the song but when I switch to Ice Prince’s Gimme Some more which was also nominated for the same awards, am told they will get it for me.So am left wondering, if these two songs competed at two grand levels, why is it that one can get air play and not the other, was Bebe probably right?The debate can go on as to who should be blamed for the Jamaican invasion of the industry.Since time immemorial, Ugandan DJs have never been so enthusiastic about playing Ugandan music. Today they will yell about how Ugandan music in the 90s was the real deal yet at that time, they indeed frustrated those artistes that many are living as paupers presently.When Sanyu Fm was at the top of the game, they championed the oppression of local music with a very foreign music catalogue coupled with borrowed accents to play it.Then to the late 90s, it took CBS and the likes of Simba to give the industry a lease of life. During the first six years of English stations like Capital and Sanyu FM, the industry didn’t pull any strides, Steve Jean, Ragga Dee, Ssematimba, Iryn Namubiru, Julianna, RS Elvis and the others were still underground acts – many left the country for Kyeyo.Though after new entrants CBS and Simba, it took less than two years for local music to gain a footing with songs like Doole Y’omwana and later Maama Mia ruling the airwaves, then come Red Banton’s Nonya Money and later Bebe and Bobi followed with Fitina and Kagoma.But then how did Jamaican and Nigerians invade us.According to Sanyu FM’s Fat Boy when artistes start coping a certain culture, it makes them look like wannabes, in other words when the top artiste struggles to sound Nigerian in songs or shoot cliché videos like them, he gets promoters and DJs feeling that’s its Nigerian that people want and it’s what the DJ will play – real Nigerian. “The culture that artistes push is what at times comes home to roost them, I will never go for Cindy when I can have N’yanda or Tanya Stevens, accommodate Navio when you can listen to Kanye, or better Bebe Cool when I can get the real Konsens.”Much as many music fans especially those of his Sanyu Breakfast show seem to concur with him, others like Odonkara Godfrey totally disagree saying that charity has to begin at home since Nigerians also started by loving their own.“Most of us run after foreign things, just because it’s Nigerian or Jamaican we assume its classy,” he says adding that he’s surprised by DJs trying to pass off Jamaican music as quality.In Bebe Cool’s support, more local artistes like Prisca Mikami, Allan Tonix, Navio and Dr Hilderman too voiced their concerns about the DJs. some artistes even noted that DJs want to be paid if they are to play a Ugandan song, but its Bebe’s nemesis Chameleone that put it better.He says that as local artistes, they are not asking for segregation of foreign music but a fair share of the industry they’ve stood by against all odds. “In such an exchange we also know that our products are not to what many can call “standards” but also it’s partially every Ugandans duty to contribute to our growth evenly,” Chameleone says adding that it’s about Uganda and what’s ours; “if your father is broke, would you seek a richer dad? We stand together, Grow together if we are to fall together. Let’s be patriotic and grow our music.”Broadcast consultant and proprietor of the new Luganda paper Ebbaluwa, Joel Isabirye, currently finishing a book about the local industry suggests that that media should give more allocation to local music than the international one on a ratio of 70:30 but also thinks musicians should be trained to cope with the demands of the public.“We need to protect our music industry in the interest of national development, tomorrow it will be DJ Beekay’s son trying to break through a Naija infested local industry,” he notes.On one of her shows, Touch FM presenter Maggie, says that the station indeed plays local music but the quality of that song matters, she picks out Maurice Kirya, Maddox, Esther from TPF and ‘some songs’ by Lillian – none of these artistes has more than four albums!“It doesn’t have to be too local,” she says.On normal days its easy to catch the station play songs by Selif Keita or Bella Kouyate, but these are local traditional music artistes from Mali!!!One urdent fan of the station Winnie Nakate, calls it sheer hypocrisy – “if touch can afford to play poor quality Nigerian songs like Yori Yori, Gobe and Azonto, then why set high standards for Ugandan artistes?”The question remains to the fans, who’s responsible for the absence of local music on the airwaves?

]]>http://tsupug.com/who-is-to-blame-for-the-jamaican-nigerian-music-invasion-into-uganda/feed/0With 3D and 5D, whats left for pirateshttp://tsupug.com/with-3d-and-5d-whats-left-for-pirates/
http://tsupug.com/with-3d-and-5d-whats-left-for-pirates/#commentsFri, 28 Feb 2014 12:48:00 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=187My real first time into the Cinema was when my older brother took me with him for a Holiday Makers’ Transday bash. Since I was underage, he paid the patrons at Cineplex that I could watch the two movies showing; Armageddon and Rush Hour (yes, you don’t just forget your first movie in a cinema). …

]]>My real first time into the Cinema was when my older brother took me with him for a Holiday Makers’ Transday bash. Since I was underage, he paid the patrons at Cineplex that I could watch the two movies showing; Armageddon and Rush Hour (yes, you don’t just forget your first movie in a cinema).

I was in there unknowingly watching worldwide block busters yet the room wasn’t even half full, it was virtually empty with a couple of girls on the front row.

Though in the end, the experience was remarkable; at that time, what made a cinema movie special was the ability of watching characters and the action in full color and on a wider screen.

Many years down the road, a lot has changed; Cineplex has since moved from a cluttered William Street to a posh Garden City, even opened shop at the neighboring Oasis mall, they even have competitors in form of Cinema Magic in Nalya and Cinemax in Makerere.

In the early 2000s, Digital took over cinema with 2D (2 dimensional) and 3D later.

3D wasn’t adopted immediately by many film makers immediately, in fact, it was loathed and dumped before the general public could get a glimpse.

It was in 2010 that the glasses made a comeback with James Cameron’s Avatar, even movies already done in 2D were retouched to cash in on the 3D fad, when the Grammy Awards aired a Michael Jackson tribute by Celine Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Smokey Robinson and Jennifer Hudson was in 3D, the first time in the history of the award show.

Cineplex has been in the game for so long and created a reputation as the number one movie brokers thus their movies don’t really come cheap, on normal days, a movie goes for at least shs22,000/= .

Like all the other cinemas, special 3D glasses are handed out, they help magnify enhance the optical illusionofdepth perception.

Cineplex is strategically located in the city center though in an area without easy transportation, just in case a movie ended way after midnight, however, the place has an active Boda Boda stage plus, the distance between Oasis mall and Kampala road is a movable one.

The 3D experience at Cinema Magic Nalya is almost the same, huge screen proportion enough to suit the theatre length, a ticket goes for shs16000/= with a free soda. However for many ideal movie goers, usually youths enjoying their salary, this place is not all that.

Its located at the northern bypass that, if one doesn’t own a car, leaving the place at night (when many of the good movies are screened) is hard, there even no direct taxis to this place.

The new Cinemax wins as far as accessibility is concerned, located in a place where commuter taxis to and from Kampala are always active. The cinema offers both 5D and 3D services.

A 5D clip goes for shs30,000/= with a free pass to watch any 3D film on their menu, as well as a free soda, though for those only interested in 3D only, the ticket is at shs15000/=.

The price is quite expensive for a 30 minute clip but the experience was amazing and mind blowing. 5D cinema is merely a market gag, there are no real five dimensions as in regards the picture, in fact what you watch on the screen is actually 3D.

We watched animated clips that were mostly set at old gothic like amusement scary parks’ roller-coaster.

The simulator made you feel part of the movie. It gets seriously freaky especially when the seats start moving up and down side to side, kind of like a static roller-coaster. There were those spectacular scenes where a roller-coaster stumbles on an anaconda like snake and stops immediately. As this snake charges to devour the guy infront of me, our sits started shaking and falling towards the snake, it was scary and really amazing.

The biggest difference about 3D and 5D is that 5D combines 3D and 4D to offer your mind more to ogle about for example, when the roller coaster meets a fountain, your face is indeed hit with water spray, then the mist, smoke and bubbles. Oh did I mention the room becomes too cold in snow?

On the other hand, 3D cinema, with the help of glasses enhances imagination making scenes of birds flying out of the screen, mist and bullets from the screen quite believable. But that’s almost all, and with the bad selection of movies, there are times no big deal or fuss about 3D, some movies genres are not meant for the technology.

However, from a perspective of a film lover that sources most of his entertainment from city pirates, 3D adds the flavor to the picture by going beyond a clear copy but trying to involve the audience especially in aggressively action packed thrillers.

]]>http://tsupug.com/with-3d-and-5d-whats-left-for-pirates/feed/0The Ugandan – worth the hypehttp://tsupug.com/the-ugandan-worth-the-hype/
http://tsupug.com/the-ugandan-worth-the-hype/#commentsFri, 28 Feb 2014 07:59:00 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=188This was one of the most talked about movies last year, premiered at a sold out event at National theatre yet for some reason, many Ugandans have not watched it. According to one of the actresses, the producers are still protecting the original product from pirates and thus, it may take even more than six …

This was one of the most talked about movies last year, premiered at a sold out event at National theatre yet for some reason, many Ugandans have not watched it.

According to one of the actresses, the producers are still protecting the original product from pirates and thus, it may take even more than six months to get our own DVD copies of The Ugandan.

Since the Euro-Africa Film festival opened at Theatre Labonita last week, I’ve been frequenting the place in the name of catching a free African Movie like obi Emelonye’s Mirror Boy, Jann Turner’s White Wedding or that 2005 South African hit Tsotsi, it’s always a chance to escape the cliché and lack of creativity that Hollywood has become.

These African movies provide a clear alternative to the lame stories, bad scripts, those continuous gay scenes and uncalled for cliff hungers only immersed in production trickery.

Thus, when Patrick Sekyaya’s The Ugandan was listed as one of the African movies to be screened at the festival – for free, many of us had to indeed make a date with the organisers.

The movie was meant to start at 6pm though by 5, the theatre louge was full of movie lovers excited to catch one of the best productions done in Uganda by a Ugandan.

The movie looks at the life after the 1973 expulsion of Asians by Idi Amin; some of the Indians whose property was given out to the locals comes back to reclaim what indeed belongs to them.

We are then introduced to Raman an Indian survivor of the Amin regime who is blackmailed by his Ugandan girlfriend (Becky) when he claims her father’s property. Coincidentally, Raman’s daughter (Sonia) falls in love with Becky’s brother (Simon). Meanwhile, Becky’s other brother (Ralph) is hustling on the streets, chasing after a thug that has links to Raman and Becky, amid raging protests against Indians.

The Ugandan is indeed one of the best locally produced movies, its picture, lighting and sound quality can aptly compete with bigger industries like the south African and Nigerian.

The film however has issues especially with the performances by most of the characters. Former Miss Uganda Dora Mwima was partly impressive, though, in a scene where she’s told that the father of her unborn child was actually simply hired to feign a relationship with her, her expression was simply flat – not any different from a person surprised by relatives on a birthday.

Then the script too had problems, much of the dialogue lacked direction, it was just redundant which dragged the picture.

Though even with all that, The Ugandan is still one of the best movies to come out of our dusty industry and thus deserved all the hype.

Meanwhile, the Euro-Africa festival will wrap up today with Joel Karekezi’s The Pardon, a film about the post Rwanda genocide devide as people were trying to come to terms with the fact that they had to forgive and work with their tormentors for a better country.

]]>http://tsupug.com/the-ugandan-worth-the-hype/feed/0The Hostel that washttp://tsupug.com/the-hostel-that-was/
http://tsupug.com/the-hostel-that-was/#commentsSat, 15 Feb 2014 15:27:00 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=198In a very short time, The Hostel series had changed the way we looked at local TV, achieved what no other show had, a great cast, the right TV station, fan base and a quality production to top it up. Not that this was the greatest story ever told or the finest acting. In fact, …

In a very short time, The Hostel series had changed the way we looked at local TV, achieved what no other show had, a great cast, the right TV station, fan base and a quality production to top it up.

Not that this was the greatest story ever told or the finest acting.

In fact, some critics always had issues with the show’s writers and their depiction of a modern University hostel, but that aside, The Hostel enjoyed a cult following in a short time and thus making other reputable productions like NBS’ Destiny or NTV’s runaway hit Kakibe Ki a total joke.

Its season one that got many of us glued with a rich cast that included the breed of actors like Michael Waweyo, Mathew Nabwiso, Dickson Zizinga and Danielle Kahunde among others. The producers also pushed the envelope with a few surprises like the inclusion of former Obsession dancer Hellen Lukoma, comedians, Daniel Omara, Richard Twangye and Isac Kadzu.

With such an expensive cast, the hostel easily rode into the hearts of many local TV lovers that embarked on leaving jobs early to catch up with their favorite residents at 7:30pm.

By season two, things had changed; the storyline was literally out of order that we could barely tell to whom it belonged to.

When the show screened the third episode of their second season, it was visible they had lost some of their star quality, and as you could expect, more new faces.

That’s when the beginning of the end started for the series, by the end of 2012, the show had allegedly taken a Christmas leave that in turn lasted more than three months.

It was later revealed that the Fast Track (the show producers) were operating in loses and since they could barely breakthrough, they had sold shop to NTV.

During the break, NTV looked for alternatives in Kenyan series Mali, Noose of Gold and Demi Gods. They also tried their hand at yet another drama production in form of Deceptions.

Deception took the 7:30pm slot that was originally enjoyed by The Hostel.

It came with a rather easy story we have known for a long time – the mother in law dealing with the daughter that has failed to give her son a baby for a long time.

Much as the acting of some actors was lacking, the polarizing performance of Sarah Kasawuzi’s Mama Nalweyiso and Pretty Katende’s Lillian were simply exceptional.

When Patra and company came back for the third season, the ground had changed, they had to fight and win back viewers they had lost to the new drama and unlike years back where they enjoyed the 7:30 timeslot, this time they had to battle for late TV viewers at 10pm with the incomparable Agataliiko Nfuufu on Bukedde.

But that wasn’t all; the entire cast had received a makeover that saw the inclusion of Kenyan actors and Neo-soul singer Maurice Kirya – which also affected the main story.

According to a viewer, Winnie Nakate, Season two and three were out of the Hostel most of the times even then the show continued moving with the same title. She even blames the producers for intentionally depicting hostels as brothels opposed to what they really are.

“Kids in hostels are wild but they don’t bring men to their rooms, in fact not even their men would allow meeting them in the rooms,” she says.

Nakate notes that the show was inconsistent on many scenarios including the joint parties, thrown by parents and students together on the famous show were more fictional than real.

Reknown film critic, Polly Kamukama though thinks a lot of factor affected the show. In his view, the trio of Omara, Twangye and Kadzu had pulled many people to the show and thus, their departure must have taken the fans with them.

“They had also established a keen fanbase, so once they fell off the cast, a lot of fans went along with them. Then there was that unexpected break at the start of last year; it was a disapointment to fans most of whom quickly found solace in Deception. But their storyline too needs serious redress, with more emphasis on the adult life of the original cast.”

Very few even realized the third season ended, its like it just vanished off the screens though word from the show producers is that it’s coming back for a fourth season soon.

Other viewers argue that unlike Deceptions whose storyline is almost a clear adaptation of one of the famous letter from Tittie and Omulongo Babirye’s shows, The Hostel had lost touch with the real Uganda.

]]>http://tsupug.com/the-hostel-that-was/feed/0TPF badly needs surgeryhttp://tsupug.com/tpf-badly-needs-surgery/
http://tsupug.com/tpf-badly-needs-surgery/#commentsWed, 11 Dec 2013 05:49:00 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=203Word from Nairobi is that a fan of Amos and Josh committed suicide when the duo failed to win the annual singing competition, Tusker Project Fame (TPF) – which, by the way, rivals the English premier league’s popularity in Kenya. In Uganda on the other hand, TPF is a shadow of sorts. After six years, …

]]>Word from Nairobi is that a fan of Amos and Josh committed suicide when the duo failed to win the annual singing competition, Tusker Project Fame (TPF) – which, by the way, rivals the English premier league’s popularity in Kenya.

In Uganda on the other hand, TPF is a shadow of sorts. After six years, two comfortable wins and arguably one surviving star, some people buried their TV remotes the moment TPF5 ended.

But how did we even get to this; the show was once such a darling!

The problem is that even with the towering character of judge Ian Mbugua throughout the show, unlike Simon Cowell, his meanness has failed to produce results we can associate to his brand.

So, when this season finale festivities kicked off on Sunday, I saw Mitch Egwang read out names of past contestants, all of whom have failed to account for past votes we wasted on them . I thought the past winners were back to debut hit singles. To my shock, these “established artistes” were still doing covers. Seriously?

The problem with TPF is that they don’t want to spend on the winners. Giving a former church choir girl eight weeks on the TV screen is not a big platform enough; in fact, it is like putting her up there and then letting her fall all of a sudden.

I appreciated a fact that on Sunday’s finale, the winner didn’t take it all; others too went home with music singles and videos.

However, if your main aim was to create an African star, I don’t understand why you would give them a poorly produced song or video.

Maybe that Amos and Josh song stands a chance, but an English song for Daisy Ejang? Even judge Julianna Kanyomozi knows; Africans – Ugandans in particular – look haughtily upon local acts singing in English. Unless they are rapping. Even then, a slice of Luganda pushes the song better; ask Navio (Naawulira), or look at LugaFlo’s success.

Then for those highly unimaginative rolex videos, I simply lost words. You know like a rolex (not the watch, come on!) you wait while it is being made and within minutes, you leave with your chapatti roll.

I think TPF missed the point here, the reasons artistes disappear is not because they can’t record a video, it’s because they are not promoted – all former contestants in Uganda have songs and videos but they are not pushed well to become hits and that is the void the sponsors must fill.

]]>http://tsupug.com/tpf-badly-needs-surgery/feed/0HOW WHITNEY STOLE A GRAMMYhttp://tsupug.com/how-whitney-stole-a-grammy/
http://tsupug.com/how-whitney-stole-a-grammy/#commentsSun, 12 Feb 2012 22:11:00 +0000http://tsupug.com/?p=270After 54 years many wondered whether the Grammy Awards still hard the spark, with a huge reference to the past winners of the big four awards the Academy had a lot to prove just months before it becomes 55 next year. Not that all had been lost but with the wins of Arcade Fire and …

After 54 years many wondered whether the Grammy Awards still hard the spark, with a huge reference to the past winners of the big four awards the Academy had a lot to prove just months before it becomes 55 next year. Not that all had been lost but with the wins of Arcade Fire and EsparanzaSpalding for the Album of the Year and Best New Artist accolades left many questioning the relevance of the awards.

So with this year’s nominees, the Grammy Awards, the academy had to prove to many doubters that they still have an idea about whatever they are doing.

2011 was a year when pop music took the front, with records from artists like Adele, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Bruno Mars, this year’s show was almost putting out the best of tricks to outsmart the past ceremonies. It was scheduled to be Adele’s biggest night, not that she was the most nominated artist but she had been nominated in the three of the four biggest broadcasted categories and she stood many chances of sweeping them all her come back performance after months would just be an ice on the cake.

Everything was set, the festivities the organization when something unthinkable happened, the death of six time Grammy winner Whitney Houston on the eve.

Whitney might have faded off the buzz scene, true, you and I might have forgotten that she still existed but fact is that she was and is one of the most successful female musicians of all time thus her death wasn’t a mere loss to the music fraternity but a dark cloud on this year’s music night.

She was respected by the academy and word is that she had been scheduled to perform and even present an award alongside Brandy and Monica. It’s said she had even rehearsed a night before her demise plus more exclusive footages show Whitney Houston performing her last at the Love RnB Grammy with famous friend and collaborator Kelly Price. This was Friday 10th her last day alive and she had suspiciously performed “Yes Jesusloves me” one of her classic Gospel songs.

On the eve of the big night and career defining moments for artist her death came as a timely one, first of all she died in a period when the world’s music celebration are on their pick. The news headlines may have ignored her presence in the organization of the entire show but her death simply put everything else in a back seat.

Just hours to the show, Whitney managed to change everything, the performer’s list had to be rebuilt, LLCool J the night’s host had to scrutinize his script to add some Whitney in there just like the winners’ acceptance speeches.

Some say that the Diva finally got back at the Award show for what many referred to as a snub about 26 years back. She was expected to win Best New Artist but the academy opted not to even nominate her in the category, they cited that she was ineligible since she had featured in aTeddy Pendergrass‘ song the previous year. The Academy refused to nominate her declaring that she was an old existing artist though the next year the awards reverted their decision when they nominated Jody Watley who had been making hits for nearly ten years with Shalamar a band. Many looked at the snub as a racial issue at that time that to date its considered one of the biggest Grammy snubs of all time and considering the fact that in 1999 Lauryn Hill a former member of the FUGEES was too nominated and won Best New Artist yet she had been making music, hits and winning Grammies for nearly fifteen years. When people make such comparisons they truly have no kind words for the academy.

Her death on their eve cast a shadow over the awards festivities that as the entire music fraternity descended upon the city of Angeles, the world had shifted their tension from the ceremony to Whitney; she had not stolen a physical Grammy but the entire show.

To prove that she is a six time Grammy Diva, Whitney affected the Grammy after parties too, one of the events greatly affected was the annual after party organized by executive Clive Davis, the party is annually hosted at Beverly Hills Hilton – the same hotel where Houston’s body was found. With everything already set the organizers couldn’t cancel but simply let the After party celebration turn into a memorial.

Many might make many jokes about Whitney’s death but one thing to be noted is that the world is full of hypocrites. Whitney had performed at the Grammy pre event on Thursday and Friday, none of us cared, she rehearsed for the main show and no one even cared but as am writing this and probably even by the time you read it, many will have written of how she did the best super bowl national anthem of all time (I actually watched it before I decided to write this article).

After bringing her down with criticism the world has decided to re-buy her music making her number one on iTunes. One thing for you all, where was all that love when Miss Bobbyneeded it?… true, you don’t miss your water till the well runs dry.